Man caught smuggling over 10% of an entire species

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A day after a wildlife trade conference in Bangkok, Thailand, authorities caught a man attempting to smuggle a bag full of tortoises shipped from Madagascar. Aside from that being pretty terrible to begin with, it turns out that among the stock of tortoises were 54 ploughshare tortoises, which may not seem like a lot considering their small size. However, it is estimated that the worldwide population of ploughshare tortoises is only around 400, meaning that the man was attempting to smuggle over 10% of the entire species through an airport in a suitcase.

The bag full of tortoises was found to be registered to a 25-year-old woman that flew from Madagascar to Bangkok, so the man had at least one accomplice. Perhaps as alarming as smuggling one-tenth of a species, the man arrested in the attempt was able to access the baggage claim without having been a passenger on a flight. This means either airport security was unnervingly lax, or the smuggler had help getting to the baggage claim.

Along with the 54 ploughshare tortoises, 21 radiated tortoises were found. Both tortoises are listed as critically endangered.

Traffic speculates that the tortoises were likely intended to be sold off as exotic pets, so if there’s a bright side here (other than the smuggler getting caught), it’s that the low worldwide population might not have been in too much danger, as the tortoises would’ve hopefully been cared for as pets. It’s also been noted that in just the past three years alone, Thai authorities have found over 4,300 tortoises and freshwater turtles attempting to be smuggled through the airport alone. Though it is thought that they’re likely intended as pets, keeping a member of a critically endangered species inside a tank by itself isn’t exactly the proper way to preserve that species.